Are More 150-Year-Olds On The Horizon?

Boom

May 15, 2013|Jim Shea

When it comes to life expectancy, baby boomers sentiments might best be captured in the song lyric from Fame: "I want to live forever."

Of course, we don't actually want to live forever (particularly after what we have done to these bodies), but now that we are closing in on average life span we wouldn't mind time being a little more on our side.

Right now average checkout is 76 years of age for a man, and 81 years for a woman. Personally, this disparity has never seemed fair to me, although I guess it does give a guy more dating options later in life, particularly if he's into cougars.

Anyway, the confirmed oldest person to date was a French woman who lived to be 122 and attributed her longevity to chocolate and wine. While it would be nice if chocolate and wine were the key to a long life (and one worth living, I might add) our chances of extending the deadline rests more in scientific and medical advances.

And on that front, the news about death is cheery.

As detailed in a recent Chicago Tribune story, there are scientific and medical advances on the horizon that could increase life spans significantly in the United States.

Some of the things researchers are predicting include:

The number of people with a 100-candle bonfire on their birthday cake will rise sixfold in the next 40 years to 601,000.

Half the babies born after 2000 will live to be at least 100.

The first people to reach 150 years of age are alive at this moment. (Wondering who the rest of you are?)

While the curing of cancer and heart disease will increase life expectancy, the key to living longer with a better quality of life resides in slowing down or reversing the aging process itself.

One college researcher quoted in the Tribune article believes that within the next decade there will be a pill capable of decelerating the aging process by about seven years, meaning a 60-year-old would have the health profile of a 53-year-old.

I don't know about you, but I'm already wondering what would happen if you took two of these pills and washed them down with a box of chocolates and a nice bottle of wine.